totalitarianism

Etymology

1938, from totalitarian + -ism, modeled after Italian totalitarismo (1923, by Giovanni Amendola) and German terms such as Totalstaat (1927, The Concept of the Political, by Carl Schmitt).

noun

1. A system of government in which the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control, for example, a dictatorship.
   The film Repentance caused a sensation across the Soviet Union not only because it publicly condemned the evil of totalitarianism but also because it encouraged tens of thousands of Soviet people to reflect upon the source and root cause of the evil.[…] October 31, 2020, Yiqing, “Why Is the Chinese Communist Party So Afraid of Intellectuals?”, in Minghui
   Mr. Yudin argues that Russia is moving out of authoritarianism — where political passivity and civic disengagement are key features — into totalitarianism, which relies on mass mobilization, terror and homogeneity of beliefs. 2022-04-09, Sabrina Tavernise, “Putin’s War in Ukraine Shatters an Illusion in Russia”, in The New York Times, →ISSN